[1] Angel is so remorseful over his past and more recent deeds, and is so tormented by ghosts, that he wishes to make amends, even if it means dying.
When Buffy starts getting dragged into his memory-nightmares, experiencing Angel's dreams also, they realize something unnatural is happening.
After the First appears to her, informing her that she cannot possibly fight it, and that Angel is about to be destroyed by the dawn's light, she runs to his mansion to stop him.
Buffy, who invited Faith to Christmas Eve dinner and then asked her to guard Joyce, consults Giles and then realizes she knows where to find the Bringers in their underground lair.
Meanwhile, Oz tells Willow that he is willing to give their relationship another chance, while Cordelia is not as forgiving and resumes her previously hostile ways towards the Scooby gang.
Oz goes to Willow's house to watch videos, only to find her dressed seductively and playing Barry White's music, intending to sleep with him.
The heatwave from which Sunnydale has been suffering abruptly ends and the first flakes of snow start to fall, which Angel takes as a sign he was brought back for a purpose.
When Joss Whedon was asked if it was God who made it snow, he answered that he is an atheist, but that he can also not ignore "the idea of a Christmas miracle".
Vox ranked it at #100 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list (to mark the 20th anniversary of the show), writing, "Angel-centric episodes tend toward melodrama — something it took Angel the series a little while to figure out how to deal with — and 'Amends,' with its tearful clifftop climax, definitely leans toward the overwrought end of the spectrum.